Ditching-machine.



E. W. DOUEN. DHCHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED sum n. 19x 1.

Patented Ma y 7, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

ATTORNEY E. W. DOTTEN. DITCHHVG MACHINE. APPLICATION mm SEPT-17.15).

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Patented May 7,1918.

E. W. DOTTEN.

DITCHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. :1. mm.

1 ,264,9U6. V Patented May 7,1918.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3- EARL W. DOTTEN, OF DE GRAFF, MINNESOTA.

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Specification of letters Patent.

Patented May '7, 1918.

Application filed September 17. 1917. Serial No. 191;?71.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l. EARL W. DOTTEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at De Graif. in the county of Swift and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ditching-Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention consists of certain new and useful improvements in ditch digging machines and relates especially to such machines known as dry land ditching machines and by which expression is meant that the machine is designed to operate on land instead of water as is some times the case.

The principal object of my present invention is to provide a machine of this character with the maximum stability and range of operation in proportion to its weight.

One trouble in particular, Well known to those versed in the art of dry land ditching, is that of successfully operating a dipper shovel against the face of a ditch while supported upon the berms of the ditch.

The chief danger accompanying such an operation is that of the caving in of the sides of the ditch from unequal pressure due to the swinging from side to side of the dipper and being obliged to extend the loaded dipper the full length of the boom in order to properly discharge the same upon the dump, suchbooms some times bein used thatare eighty or more feet in lengt To overcome such difiiculties and objections to the presentform of ditching machines forms another object of this invention.

Other objects and advantages of the novel construction and combination of arts will appear as hereinafter set forth an particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings formin part of this application and in which like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 is a top lan view ofthe improved ditching machine as it would appear 1n the act of digging, a ditch,

Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view of the vehicle portion of the mechanism illustrating certain parts thereof in elevation F1 4. 3 is a transverse sectional View showing in elevation the laterally discharging conveyer and berm cleaners, and,

Fig. 4 is a fragmental elevation of the front Wheel shaft mounting mechanism.

In the embodiment of my invention here illustrated, 1 represents a working platform or deck supported upon four large fabricated wheels 2 and 3 in the front and 4 and 5 in the rear, comprising a portable vehicle.

The deck I prefer to have carried u on a suitable iron bar frame 6, composed 0 such as channel bars, I beams 0r angles and to be, in general plan, substantially rectangular in shape.

The rear wheels 1 and 5 are supported upon a single axle 7 and are placed in the extreme rear corners of the frame 6 and the front wheels 2 and 3 are placed in the forward corners of the frame but spaced :3. distance in from the sides and ends thereof to admit of a certain amount of swiveling for {turning of the Vehicle as will be described ater.

A large polygonal central opening or hatchway 8 is formed through the deck 1 and in which'hatchway the ditching shovel is operated.

An arcuately shaped track 9 is supported centrally above the hatchway 8 upon any form of suitable structure such as the uprights 10 and 11. The track 9 may be of any desired structure but I have shown as a convenient and practical form, an upright member, indicated by the numeral 9, to the inner wall of which are fixed two vertically spaced angle bars, 12-42, which form the guide rails of the track.

13 represents the dipper carrying boom which is pivotally mounted as at 14 upon the deck 1 adjacent the rear edge of the hatchway 8, said pivotal point being that from which the arcuate track 9 is described.

The o'pposite or free end of the boom 13 is swingmgly supported upon the track 9 by means of the roller 50, pivotally carried upon the extreme end of the boom and operative intermediate of the two angle bars m0 12 12, it normally resting upon the lowermost angle bar. .rul

This boom is of the type known as a split boom, and carries, intermediate of its tvtb halves, the dipper stick 15, whichvisoholi- 0&5

trolled and operated in the usual: manner, there being a crowding engine 16 mounted upon the boom for assisting in the opeiration,

I have illustrated the line llfumhech islettached t0 the dipper 18 as leadiimglflhenqfirom (1110 up to and over a sheave 19 in the upper end of the boom and thence downward to and between the sister sheaves, 20-20, to the winding drum 21. the sister sheaves being directly over the pivotal point 14 of the boom to admit of the swinging of the boom without materially altering the draft upon the line from the drum.

The drum 21 is mounted upon the transverse shaft 22, rotatably carried in any desired manner upon the deck 1 and which derives its power from the internal combustion engine or other suitable motor 23.

At either side of the drum 21 and mounted upon and adjacent each end of the shaft .22 is a swinging drum 24, each having a line 25 attached to the side of the boom, whereby the boom may be swung from side to side at the will of the operator as is obvious. It is not deemed necessary to illustrate the mechanism for the control of the drums 21 and 24 upon the line shaft 22 as such forms no part of my present invention and any one of various forms of well known means for such operation may be employed.

Near each end of the shaft 22 and extend ing forwardly in respect to the vehicle is a short shaft 26, they communicating with the shaft 22 and being operated by suitable miter gears as illustrated at 27.

The forward end of each shaft 26 carries a sprocket wheel 28, which, by means of suitable sprocket chains, operate the berm cleaners, each one of which comprises a driving shaft 29 and a driven shaft 30, carrying suitable sprocket wheels for driving an endless chain or belt 31 for scraping and cleaning the upper surface of the berms to make a smooth track for the rear wheels of the ditcher. Coarse brushes or other suitable scraping teeth may be attached to the chain or belt 31.

These berm cleaners are illustrated as being suspended from the frame of the chassis and I prefer to suspend the same pivotally, as for example the outer portion 32 of the suspended frame being pivoted at 33 and the portion 3a at the inner end being pivoted upon its respective shaft 26, the lower ends of both portions 32 and 34 of the suspended frame being pivoted upon the shafts and 29 respectively. Thus a swinging motion in either direction of the berm cleaning belts will tend to raise them from the ground, and, to hold same in any predeter- -mined position desired, I provide inclined braces 35 extending from the ends of the tih aits 30 to the uppermost inner corners of are suspended frame where they may be fastened in any one of a series of holes 36 deemed! for the purpose in a transverse de- Whig portion of the frame 6.

.fl ltfl'fisimpparent that the berm cleaning tales dre iiiablh to operate in a direction to UB5 lmlipe tllida d i rfi therefrom outwardly from the ditch and thus provide a clean and smooth passage way for the wheels of the ditcher.

Mounted upon the rear axle 7 of the vehicle is a large sprocket wheel 37 which is designed to be driven from the shaft 22 by means of a smaller sprocket 38 and a suitable chain surrounding said sprockets, the activity of the sprocket 38 being controlled in any desired manner as for instance b a suitable manually controlled clutch mec anism indicated at 39. By this arrangement tractive power may be applied to the rear wheels 4 and 5 as they are rigidly fixed to the axle 7 and the machine thus propelled.

Just below and inside of the forward edge of the hatchway 8 is permanently fixed a short endless belt receiving platform 40 the belt being carried upon suitable rollers mounted upon shafts 41 and 42, the latter being driven by a sprocket wheel 43 and a chain 44 from a suitable motor or engine 45 placed in any desired position upon the forward portion of the deck 1.

Below each shaft 41 and 42 is suspended the inner and lowermost ends of laterally and upwardl extending endless conveyers 46, the specific construction of which does not enter into this invention and it is evident that a single one of such conveyers may be employed in lieu of the pair and the one changed from one side of the ditcher to the other to meet requirements.

I have illustrated the outer ends of these cenveyers as being suspended from suitable masts 47, one for each conveyer and located upon the deck 1. By this arrangement the conveyers may be raised or lowered to suit circumstances and whereby the material taken from the ditch and received from the central platform belt 40 may be piled to any desired height at the side of the machine.

When the ditcher is equipped with two of the eonveyers 46 as illustrated, it is evident that by simply reversing the travel of the platform belt 40 the excavated material may be delivered to either one of the conveyers 46 desired, it being understood that the excavating shovel 18 delivers the material upon the belt 40. A suitable inclined apron 48 is positioned in front of the belt 40 to guide the material to the belt when discharged from the shovel.

The front Wheels 2 and 3 of the vehicle are each placed in a hatchway 49 somewhat larger than the plan dimension thereof to permit of the wheels being pivotally mounted for manipulation in turning the vehicle or causing it to travel in a curved direction.

The outer end of each axle 51 of such wheels is pivotally mounted as at 52 within a suitable inwardly extending bracket 53 from each side of the frame 6. The op osite end of each axle is journaled in two ad acent bearings 54 and 55 formed integral with the r i a i emb, 1; 56, it havin u on the u per side t'ereo j au arcuatelyg sh ped reel? 7 into which a correspondingl shaped beveled gear 58. meshes and by wich the. inner end of the axle may be swung either one way or tbeother for changing the course of each res ective wheel.

he bearinot, 55 is made rectangular in shape externally and is slidab-ly, mounted within a suitable arcuately, shaped' isection of c annel bar 53 rf idly fired to the, frame 6 of the vehicle anc which acts as a support and guide to tho .coiiperatin end ofthe axle.

I have shown the shaft 66 upon which the beveled gears 58 are mounted as being a continuous shaft, and operated centrally by means of a worm gear 61 and the cooperating \vor upon vertical hand operating s aft 62. provided with a hand wheel 63 w ereby the veh cle is steered. By this arrangement it is evident that if the beveled gears 58, at both .ends of the shaft fitloccur upon the upper face of the arcuate racks 57 they will tend to travel in the same direction when operated by the gears which would cause the wheels 2 and 3 to oppose each other in turning action, thus it becomes necessary to operate" one. of the gears 58 against the under side of the rack as indircetvdl v. a 1 ti he dr S s vkfi being simply sufiiciently elevat dd purpose and having the teeth formed upon the lower side thereof instead of the upper, which will result in the wheels 2 and 3 turning harmoniously.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have devised a ditch digging machine in which a dipper shovel is used for forming the ditch, there being no mast whatever employed and no overhang of the dipper when loaded as the endless conveyors carry the excavated material out beyond the sides of the machine during a prolonged operation as compared to the dischar e of the dipper shovel as commonly used for such purposes, thus materially reducing the tipping stress upon the mechanism and consequent liability of caving in of the ditch walls.

Furthermore in this construction of machine where the weight is equally distributed upon four large wheels it is possible to use a shovel of much greater capacity than heretofore.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to record by Letters Patent, is:

1. A ditching machine of the character described comprising in combination a. wheeled vehicle having a flat working deck, an open hatchway through approximately the center of the deck, an arcuately shaped track elevated above and extendin transversely the hatchway, a boom having one end pivotally supported upon the deck adjacent the rear edge of the hatchway and the e v he oppositeend swingingly; supported in the arcuate track, a dipper shovel carried cen- W lly of he boom an 0 eretive. hroug the hatchway, and a,latera ly disppsed endless .conveyer adjacent he. for r 9 the hatchwayfor receiving, the excavated material from the shovel and discharging it to one, side of the machine.

A ditc ing machine f he har e described comprising in combination a wheeled vehicle havinga flat wor king deck, an open, hatchway through approx ately the center of the deck, an'arcuately s aped track above and extending transverse the hatchway, a support havipgr 0116; ndtpiv ally mounted upon the ek adjacent the rear edge of the, hatchwayar d the opposite end swlngingly supported in the arcuate track, ditch digging nieans carri d by t e support and operative, through t e hate way meansfor receivm the, excavated material from thedig er an discharging it to one side of the mac ine.

3. The cpmbinationgvith a d itch digging machine of the character de cribed comprising a self propelled vehicle having an open central haiclway therein, 0;- a bogam lvo. a .s or e .at o en a .acenttie ear efl ge df the hatchd a y aild a t the opn si e nqli nivsie lr. uspense a ove,- t

hate way, a dipper pivota ly carried by the boom and operative through the hatchway and means for receiving the excavated material from the shovel and discharging it to one side of the machine.

4. The combination with a ditch digging machine of the character described, comprisin a four wheeled vehicle and means for digging a ditch intermediate of the wheels of the vehicle, of berm cleaners mounted in front of the rearmost wheels of the vehicle whereby the leavings of the digging means on the berms of the ditch are removed.

5. The combination with a machine of the character described, comprising a four Wheeled vehicle and means for digging a. ditch intermediate of the wheels of the vehicle, of operative berm cleaners mounted in front of the rearmost Wheels of the vehicle and means whereby the berm cleaners are simultaneously operated with the advancement of the vehicle whereby the leavings of the digging means on the berms of the ditch are removed therefrom as the machine is advanced.

6. The combination with a four wheeled vehicle having a flat working deck with an open hatchway through the center thereof, an arcuate track above and transverse the hatchway, a shovel carrying boom pivotally mounted upon the deck at one end and swingingly supported upon the track at the opposite end, of a transversely disposed rotatable power shaft at the rear of the pivotal end of the boom and intermediate of the rear wheels of the vehicle, means operated by the shaft for operating the shovel carried by the boom, means operated b the shaft for swinging the boom lateral y, a shaft at each end of the first mentioned shaft, operated thereby and extending to a point adjacent the front of the rear wheels of the vehicle, and means at said forward end of each shaft for operating a berm cleaner in front of each respective rear wheel of the vehicle substantially as de scribed.

7. The combination with a four Wheeled vehicle of the character described including a pivotally mounted swinging dipper carrying boom and endless belt berm cleaners in front of the rear wheels of the vehicle, of means intermediate of said rear wheels for operating the shovel, the boom, the berm cleaners and the vehicle simultaneously or some of said parts independently.

8. A ditching machine of the character described, comprising a substantially rectagular shaped chassis frame, four large wide wheels mounted in the four corners of the frame, a driving axle nonrotatably fixed to and upon which the rear wheels are mounted, a flat working deck upon the chassis frame, openings through the deck at the four corners of same in which the wheels are mounted, the ogenin s in the forward corners being consi erab y larger than the forward wheels and in which the latter are rotatably and pivotally mounted, means for chan ing the direction of the forward whee s for steering the machine, a large open hatch through the deck and positioned centrally intermediate of the four wheels, ditch digging means within the hatch and supported upon the deck, means supported by th deck for receiving the excavated ma I terial from the digging means and conveying it to one side of the machine, and means for cleaning the berms of the ditch in front of the rear wheels of material left thereupon by the ditch digging means substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimon whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in t e presence of two witnesses.

EARL W. DOTTEN.

Witnesses A. C. ERICKSON, R. S. BACON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

